


The Game of Life

by witandwaldorf



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Friends to Lovers, One Shot, Scrabble, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 19:05:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13958040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witandwaldorf/pseuds/witandwaldorf
Summary: Dan Humphrey was never very good at keeping secrets, or hiding things as it turns out. One Sunday morning, a simple round of board games at the Humphrey's shatters his and Blair's friendship after she makes a startling discovery. Now, he hates board games.AU One-Shot.





	The Game of Life

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this on a whim but decided to share it anyways :)

“I win!” Blair proclaims after the final match of Scrabble. She steamrolled all of the Humphreys with nearly every single word she played getting a minimum score of 20. A collective groan was released by the Humphreys as Blair announced her final score. She would think after doing this almost every weekend for the past two years, they would have gotten used to her tendency to win by now.

“I say we play another game, one that Blair won’t be so ruthless in.” Jenny says playfully from across the table.

“Well, that eliminates just about every game that exists.” Dan retorts to which Blair rolls her eyes. 

“Let’s play something a little friendlier,” Rufus suggests. “How about Clue?”

“I love Clue!” Blair announces to which everyone looks skeptical. “Kidding, I totally hate it because I’m awful at it. I definitely won’t win.” She mocks disappointment. “Should I go get the game?”

“Sure, it’s in Dan’s old room on the last shelf of the bookcase,” Rufus says as Dan and Jenny clean up the Scrabble tiles.

“Okay, be right back.” Blair’s heels echo as she crosses the concrete floor. When she reaches Dan’s room, she kneels before the bookcase and a different game catches her eye. “Oh, you have Life! We should play this!” She calls out to the dining room.

She’s not sure what version this is, it looks different from the one she and Nate would play with when they were young. This could be some ancient Humphrey relic so she decides to open it and survey the contents. She thinks she faintly hears Dan call, “No, wait!” But ignores him, probably worried she just found another game that she can easily win.

Blair stares down at the now open board game box in confusion. There’s no game in here at all. It’s a huge stack of papers with the words, _Untitled_ , emblazoned across the front. Curious, she starts flipping through them just as Dan walks into the room.

“Wait, don’t read that.” Dan says too late, as Blair’s eyes flip through. The names blur together, all sounding all too familiar to Blair.

_Clair… Dylan… Nathan…_

A paragraph catches her eyes: _He goes back to that moment time and time again. When they were on the precipice and all he had to do was to reach out or say something. But instead, he did what he had always done. He watched Clair turn to leave, saw her through the window linking her lithe arm through Nathan’s and watched them walk out, picturesque._

Blair turns to look at Dan, confusion etched across her face. “You weren’t supposed to read that.” Dan says and she says nothing back she just blinks at him.

Until finally she throws the lid back on the box and states simply, “You could have at least added an ‘E’ at the end of Clair. I would have thought a Yale graduate would be better versed in the art of crafting clever pseudonyms.” Her expression is hard as she bustles past him and marches into the living room.

Dan faintly hears Blair tell Rufus and Jenny that she forgot she was supposed to be meeting her mother for coffee in 15 minutes and she can’t play another board game. He wants to go after her but he doesn’t. He just stares down at the mess he made and wonders how on earth he will ever clean it up.

* * *

 

“I need to talk to Blair,” Dan announces when Dorota opens Blair’s apartment door two hours later. Nevermind the fact that it took 4 rounds of knocking, at least he’s halfway to fixing things.

“Miss Blair say no visitors, especially not you.” Dorota gives him an apologetic look.

“Dorota, please. Just let me see her,” Dan pleads but Dorota shakes her head.

“I don’t know what happen but Miss Blair not in state to see anyone. Leave her alone. You come back and try tomorrow.” Dorota tries for a smile which does little to reassure him.

“Tell her I’m sorry,” Dan says before leaving.

As he takes the subway back to Brooklyn, his mind is a swirl of regrets. He should have shredded the story the moment after he finished it. In a weird way he thought maybe if he got it out all out on paper, it would somehow make it go away. With each hammer of the keys he typed upon, he wished it to be expelled from him. But as the printer etched the words, the far too truthful and thinly veiled words, it only seemed to cement his feelings for her.

* * *

 

Blair opens her bleary eyes to the blue of a window pane, her cheek pressed against it. She blinks and sees the wash of greenery, just beyond the glass. Sitting up and readjusting, she realizes it’s morning. She forgot momentarily where she was, and where she was going. Or more importantly, why she was going.

She glances at her phone and pulls open the map app to find she’s only 20 minutes from Dartmouth now. She slept through most of the train ride in the comfortable first class cabin. She swallows hard, pained to know what’s ahead. Yet she strangely can already feel the relief that will come from the release. _Just a short while now_ , she shuts her eyes and lets her thoughts take her away.

* * *

 

“Blair,” Nate says, eyes sparkling with surprise. She'll miss those eyes, that shade of green was always her favorite thing about him. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Hi,” Blair manages, weakly. A rush of emotion is impending at the sight of him. She presses a kiss to his lips. _Maybe the last_ , she thinks as she pulls away. Nate pulls her into his single dorm room and rushes about to pick up the strewn about books and clothes.

“Sorry, it’s such a mess.” He gestures around the room. Then he turns to her. “So is everything okay?”

She blinks and the first tear spills.

* * *

 

Dan is convinced his knuckles will bruise soon from all the knocking he’s done over the past 24 hours. Third time’s a charm, he tells himself as he brings his fist to the door once more. Finally, it opens, he prays to see Blair’s face but finds Dorota’s instead.

“You said to come back today,” Dan reminds her.

“Miss Blair not here,” She shrugs.

Dan exhales, frustrated. “Well, where is she? Can you at least tell me that? She won’t take my calls or respond to my texts so I don’t know what to think at this point.”

Dorota looks away, “I really should not say.” She hesitates, “But you look terrible. All dark circles and messy hair.” She shakes her head. “Miss Blair go to Dartmouth to visit Mister Nate. No idea when she be back.”

“Oh,” Dan feels a pang. Of course, the dutiful girlfriend went to her boyfriend after reading that her best friend was in love with her. She probably even told Dorota to tell Dan where she was, making sure he would get her message. Well, message received, he thinks to himself. “Right. I’ll just go, then.” He turns away, crestfallen and forlorn.

“Sorry Mr. Dan.” He hears Dorota say before shutting the door softly shattering his hopes.

* * *

 

Dan slides the last paper into the shredder, watching it disintegrate into a flurry of crinkled particles. The story looks like a tragedy now, but then again it probably always was.  
“No Blair again?” Rufus asks as Dan sits down to play Scrabble with his family. The sound of her name feels like a stab to his chest, the first real feeling he’s had in the past two weeks of numbness.

“No,” Dan doesn’t offer an explanation as he pulls out tiles. He faintly recognizes a look being exchanged between his dad and sister but ignores it.

He can’t decide if he hates Scrabble or The Game Life more.

* * *

 

Blair steels herself, nervously smoothing her hair before raising her hand to the teal lacquered door. She holds her breath as she waits, straining her eyes to hear any sign of the door opened. He might never open it, or never speak to me again, she reminds herself. Afterall, it’s been three weeks since his last text or call.

The creak of the door opening sounds like the best noise Blair has ever heard. His brow furrows and he blinks at her as though he’s making sure she’s real.

“Hey,” She breathes.

He looks away, irritation now crossing his face. “What are you doing here Blair?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” She says, a note of hopefulness in her voice.

His eyes cut to hers. “You want to talk to me? Now? Blair, it’s been three weeks. You just show up here after ignoring all of my calls, texts, attempts to see you?”

Her eyes drop to the ground momentarily, “I know. I’m sorry. I should have tried sooner. I just needed time. To process,” She adds.

Dan seems about to shut the door but then reluctantly swings it open and retreats into the living room, wordlessly. She follows him and they never quite make it to the couch. Instead, the stand on either sides of the room, a coffee table and a stretching distance between them.

“Sorry, I didn’t call sooner.” She begins, hesitantly. She’s starting to regret her choice to come here. Maybe she should have just mailed a letter. He doesn’t respond so she presses on. “I really wanted to see you before but I just needed to think. It was a lot, to find out. And especially like that.”

“Is that what you came to talk about? Because I’d rather not rehash that-” Dan starts.

Blair cuts him off, “I broke up with Nate.”  
“Why did you do that?” Despite Dan’s seemingly neutral sounding question, she sees his expression change a little. A flicker of surprise in his eyes.

“Reading that, as hard as it was to read, it made me realize something.” Blair admits slowly. “I have been pretending with Nate, maybe I always have. But I’ve never pretended with you.” She meets his gaze and as their eyes lock, it’s as though 1,000 butterflies have been set free in the pit of her stomach.

“What are you saying, Blair? I need you to be more specific.” Dan inches forward, a fraction, barely even perceptible.

“I’m saying,” Blair pauses. “That maybe you were wrong. You used the term unrequited if I recall correctly in regards to Clair and Dylan’s relationship. But that’s not true.” She pulls her gaze away from the ground it and lifts it to his. “It’s far from unrequited.”

“So you’re saying…” Dan trails off.

“That if you said something, finally, or did something that I would too.” She knows she still being vague. Even if he’s reluctant and needs her to say more, she can’t. Because there’s a tiny part of her that thinks she might be wrong about the whole thing. That Clair isn’t an alias for Blair. That Dylan isn’t Dan at all.

“I think I said it all though, didn’t I? In those pages…” Dan asks her, earnestly.

“I wouldn’t know, I didn’t get to rid them all so I can’t be certain.” She gives him a wry smile.

Dan laughs then and it’s the sound she realized her life had missed these past two weeks. “Fine, Waldorf. Have it your way. I love you, okay? And I’m awful at disguising it and I really-”

Blair cuts him off before he can launch into one of his rambles that never really end. She steps in and puts her hand on his chest, realizing now she’s closer than she’s ever been to him. Timidly and shyly, she slowly looks up at him, not backing away in the slightest. When their lips touch, she has to let out a breath of relief and she hears him do the same. Intertwined, she presses harder against his chest.

“I love you too, Dan.” She says once she’s finally pulled away. “Even if you are horrible at Scrabble, coming up with pseudonyms, and hiding anything, I mean a board game box? Your family plays board games every Sunday that was bound to be discovered at some point.”

Dan laughs, “Maybe not my most clever moment. I don’t even remember putting it there. I guess it just threw it there hastily trying to hide it. Anyways, it’s gone now so that won’t be an issue.”

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Blair studies his face.

“I shredded it, the hard copy at least. I kept the digital copy you know, just in case I ever need a refresher on what ended up being the catalyst for this.” He gestures between them.

“Oh, maybe I can read more then. The descriptions of Clair sounded very intriguing, in fact, I think I saw the word regal next to her name, maybe?” Blair asks innocuously.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Dan shakes his head.

“Why not?”

“I don’t think you’d like the descriptions of Nathan very much.” Dan winces.

“Okay then you’ll just have to tell me at least, did Clair and Dylan live happily ever after?” Blair asks earnestly. “I never got to read the end.”

“They don’t,” Dan admits with a begrudged expression. Blair feels her heart sink at his words and she pulls away, stung by the truth.

But before she can turn away from him, Dan pulls her back in and his next words make her heart rise again. “But we can rewrite the ending.”

 

* * *

 

**END**

 

**Thank you for reading!**


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